One of the very specific items I would like on the agenda is re-writing the NCHRP proposal "Integrating Existing and Emerging Transportation Data Collection Activities to Maximize Analytical Capacity." First, I suggest a new title "Promoting Transportation Data Efficiency to improve transportation, environmental and energy planning" Second, I would like 1 or 2 people to volunteer to re-write this proposal in a form that will get it MORE VOTES in the NCHRP process. This means the language needs to be clear and SUCCINCT (that means SHORTER!). I know that Nathan, Jeff and Kate worked hard on this, but there is too much detail. Also, the structure is unclear. Why are probe surveys at the same organizational level in the proposal as climate change and energy security? One is a data collection method, and climate change is a big overarching problem. I have attached the proposal submitted last year, and my poor attempt to edit it. I don't think we should "give up" and instead, we should re-write and re-submit! Or maybe we can take care of this through email and don't need to have it on the agenda! Elaine -----Original Message----- From: abj30-friends-bounces(a)chrispy.net [mailto:abj30-friends-bounces@chrispy.net] On Behalf Of Ed Christopher Sent: Thursday, May 13, 2010 9:57 AM To: abj30-friends(a)chrispy.net Cc: Charlie Howard Subject: Re: [ABJ30-Friends] Discussion Items for the Mid-Year Agenda (ABJ30:TRB Urban Data Committee) Emily--all good question but I am going to ramble about one which I do not think TRB has ever been able to address, Travel Time, Speed and Reliability. Travel Time, Speed and Reliability (TTSR)crosses into many areas of expertise as we know from the papers we get to review every year. We also know that it extends far beyond the scope of what we would loosely call "Urban". I have always believed that given the importance of the issue, especially as we move towards performance based planning and programming that TRB should take steps to address the TTSR issue by forming a task force that would likely lead to a separate committee. However, if you look at the larger picture you will see that the task force that got formed is called "Data for Decisions and Performance Measures". A description of it can be found in the TRB Data Section newsletter which is attached. While it does not directly fit, I think that the Urban Data Committee's 6+ years experience with dealing with TTSR papers and research should certainly be of interest to and possibly a point of consideration for the task force. As a topic are it has certainly matured even though it doesn't have a "real" TRB home. I am not sure how the TTSR issue area will play out but my personal belief is that it should take on the nature of a full committee with membership coming from from a wide range of disciplines. Emily Parkany wrote: have? theme. -- Ed Christopher 708-283-3534 (V) 708-574-8131 (cell) FHWA RC-TST-PLN 4749 Lincoln Mall Drive, Suite 600 Matteson, IL 60443

It is always difficult to figure out boundaries between different TRB committees, so don't forget that there is the Travel Survey Methods committee (ABJ40) that Guy Rousseau is now chairing (and I used to chair it a long time ago). Kouros Mohammadian and I co-chair a New Technology subcommittee and the subcommittee has long discussed GPS, and in fact, I said at the last subcommittee that GPS is not really "new technology" anymore and maybe we should stop discussing it! But, the integration of GPS into smart phones (3G and 4G) is new, so we'll keep it on our list. We also have a Call for Papers out on Cybermining of Social Media to capture travel and activity behavior. http://pressamp.trb.org/CallForPapers/default.asp?event=654&view=committ ee&utm_medium=etmail&utm_source=Transportation%20Research%20Board&utm_ca mpaign=TRB+E-Newsletter+-+05-11-2010&utm_content=Customer&utm_term= I believe that we will be editing this into a full NCHRP proposal statement. Elaine From: abj30-friends-bounces(a)chrispy.net [mailto:abj30-friends-bounces@chrispy.net] On Behalf Of Vladimir Livshits Sent: Thursday, May 13, 2010 10:12 AM To: abj30-friends(a)chrispy.net Subject: RE: [ABJ30-Friends] Discussion Items for the Mid-Year Agenda(ABJ30:TRB Urban Data Committee) Good questions, Emily. A few points for whatever they worth: In our case the first one is kind of rhetorical - we definitely will and are using already new data sources, including commercial travel speed data, GPS household surveys, etc. Some of them are also much more efficient ways, so you can get better/larger sample data at a lower price or a comparable price. We might want to consider a subcommittee on innovations in urban data collection and data management, including data acquisition, data retrieval systems, web-based data portals, etc. It seems to me that travel time and speed data bear the most relevance for the urban environments, so I would agree with you that it probably does belong to this committee. But what and how we collect is changing. I also would suggest another topic related to changing ways of using data and changing applications. We can call it "New requirements for urban data collection and management" or something like that. Specifically we have new emerged needs on the modeling side, that relates to necessity to collect more accurate GPS-based data for activity-based models and another big powerful trend - requirements for data for dynamic traffic assignments on regional or sub-regional scale and microsimulations on both supply and demand sides. We just completed region-wide intersection data collection for TMC and approach counts with simultaneous aerial photography for queue length and density and it was a somewhat difficult exercise - so different ways of doing it might be interesting. As more and more planning agencies move into simulating dynamic phenomena on a disaggregate level new requirements for data become more and more pressing. Vladimir Vladimir Livshits, Ph. D, M. Sc System Analysis Program Manager Maricopa Association of Governments 302 North 1st Ave., Ste. 300 Phoenix, Arizona 85003 www.mag.maricopa.gov vlivshits(a)mag.maricopa.gov (602) 452-5079 FAX (602) 254-6490 From: abj30-friends-bounces(a)chrispy.net [mailto:abj30-friends-bounces@chrispy.net] On Behalf Of Emily Parkany Sent: Thursday, May 13, 2010 8:32 AM To: abj30-friends(a)chrispy.net Subject: [ABJ30-Friends] Discussion Items for the Mid-Year Agenda (ABJ30:TRB Urban Data Committee) Hi! Kate Lawson and I were emailing about the agenda for the Mid-Year Meeting at NATMEC in June in Seattle and I was thinking that it may make sense to have discussions among the participants (in-person and on the phone). I came up with the following discussion topics. Please feel free to edit these (responding to the listserve or me: emily.parkany(a)gmail.com ) and add your own suggestions. 1) Do we need new sources of data? Have people been following the status quo or is the practice moving towards using archived ITS data for planning, GPS surveys, location-based data, etc. 2) Do we have the right skills? What skills do we need new hires to have? Can a TRB workshop or other training address this? 3) Do we have the right subcommittees? What is the impact of census data and archived data among the participants? Should the commitee be considering other subcommittees (for example: travel time, speed, and reliability---and the SHRP 2 Reliability efforts)? 4) Is the urban data committee the right "home" for Travel Time, Speed, and Reliability? [I lean towards yes.] Is there much coordination between these researchers (for example, folks on SHRP 2 Reliability projects) and the committee? Do these topics interest you? Kate suggests that they fit under a "Preparing for the Annual Meeting/State of the Committee" Discussion theme. The mid-year meeting is not very long but this may be our chance to raise some of these issues. When we put an agenda together, I will ask you to think about these topics and I'll solicit opinions that we can put into a Powerpoint presentation to start the discussion. This way, I hope that people can participate before the meeting, in the room, and on the phone. I look forward to hearing from you. Emily Emily Parkany Secretary, ABJ30 Urban Transportation Data and Information Systems